COLORADO SPRINGS — If the Rockies — coming off a dreadful 2-7 road trip — are about to look south for help with their struggling pitching staff, they will need season-long memories.

Tyler Matzek, the best Triple-A starting pitcher in the Rockies' minor-league system this year, made an unofficial audition Sunday. And it was less than ideal.

Matzek pitched only 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight earned runs, nine hits and four walks. The Colorado Springs Sky Sox eventually lost the Pacific Coast League game 9-8 to the New Orleans Zephyrs.

"It wasn't my best outing. Those happen," Matzek said. "I threw some good changeups, which was the goal right now. I was a little wild with the fastball. I just couldn't get it down; I was rushing a bit."

With Franklin Morales struggling in the fifth slot in the Rockies' rotation — he allowed six earned runs Saturday in a loss at Cleveland, increasing his ERA to a team-high 6.03 — the Rockies could be looking for someone to jump into that spot.

The Rockies' best minor-league pitching options, it seems at the moment, are the left-handed Matzek and Double-A Tulsa right-hander Eddie Butler.

"I have no idea. I don't care," Matzek (5-3, 4.15 ERA) said of the possibility he will get a call-up to the big leagues. "It's their choice, not mine. I haven't really paid attention to it at all. I try not to. You guys keep telling me about it, but I don't want to hear it, honestly."

Matzek and Butler struggled in their weekend starts. Butler pitched only 4 2/3 innings against the Midland (Texas) RockHounds on Saturday, allowing seven hits and two earned runs. He is 4-4 and has a 3.86 ERA.

Matzek also toiled — Sunday's start was his second-worst outing of the season, and it drew Sky Sox pitching coach Dave Schuler to the mound during the second inning with a tilted head and a "really?" look on his face.

"That's been his MO his whole career — one good game, one bad one," Schuler said. "So it's about getting the consistency there. And that comes back to fastball command. The structure of every pitcher in baseball is fastball command. When he has it, it's lights out."

It was Matzek's first loss since early May. He entered Sunday's game with four consecutive victories that had dropped his ERA to 3.20 and lifted his record to 5-2.

But Matzek was wrong all over against New Orleans. He walked consecutive batters in the fourth inning — on eight consecutive pitches. And, after getting a rare two-strike pitcher's count to start the fifth, Matzek walked the Zephyrs' Kyle Jensen. That led to a four-run inning and the end of Matzek's outing.

"I think he's a middle- to top-end type rotation guy," said Sky Sox catcher Michael McKenry. "And I think he's going to be that. He's still young; he's still growing. It's figuring out how to compete on days like today. When it's been tough for him, it's been tough.

"But he's a grinder. He's constantly learning, constantly growing. He's always asking questions And he's a guy who, you don't worry about this start, because the next game he may come out and throw a one-hitter. He's got that kind of stuff."

Rockies manager Walt Weiss said before his team's nine-game road trip that in evaluating the two vaunted Double-A prospects — Butler and Jon Gray, each a first-round draft pick — Butler was more ready for the majors.

Boosted by his stretch of four strong starts with a 1.10 ERA, Matzek also seemed ready. After struggling early in his pro career as a first-round pick in the 2009 draft, Matzek earned his first spring training invite this year.

He has been the Sky Sox's best pitcher — but with a caveat. He leads their pitching staff with 52 strikeouts, but also has issued a team-high 29 walks. Matzek's eight earned runs allowed Sunday matched his season high, but he also has four scoreless outings.

Matzek could have pitched himself into a slot in the Rockies' rotation. But after he struggled Sunday, Weiss and Rockies management will have to choose Matzek or Butler — or decide to stay with Morales for his scheduled start at Coors Field on Friday.

"On any given day, (Matzek) is as good as anybody," McKenry said. "To say when he's ready? I don't know. That's always out of our control. He just has to continue to prepare like he is in the big leagues and just let it happen. And when the time comes, time comes."

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